Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

Soon, Finney explained the principles of the weapon she was developing to Xiaoqiege in the most concise language.

"I understand. Basically, it means we need to become a fusion entity like Hibiki-san to gain the power to transform again, and Gear has gained even more power under Finney's modifications—Death."

Xiaoqiege nodded and smiled to indicate that she fully understood.

【Hey... do you really understand? Qiege, didn't you realize that the price of this system might be your life? Although fusion syndrome is no longer a terminal illness after studying the Demon-Slaying Light of the Divine Beast Mirror, you might still die in battle if the intensity of the fight is too high.】

Seeing that Xiaoqiege's expression didn't change much, Finni suspected that the other party might not have understood, so she emphasized to her the danger of the weapon she was currently researching.

"Oh, I know that. Even an optimist like me understands that great power often comes at a price. But if paying that price can increase my chances in the battle against Zero, I'll accept it."

In response, Xiaoqiege put away her smile and said seriously that she understood everything that Fini described, and with that understanding, she had no doubt about using this weapon that came with a price.

Is that so...?

Fini was somewhat surprised that Xiaoqiege could have such awareness.

"Haha, after all, I've received a lot of help from Sister Zero. Besides, if I were truly afraid of it, I wouldn't have agreed to the request to lower Death's level."

Xiaoqiege said with a smile, and then expressed her determination to Fini.

Although it was somewhat impulsive at first, Xiaoqiege thought it over carefully and decided to continue fighting, knowing that Lingyi's personality would not blame her if she surrendered immediately.

That guy is as likable as ever, just like in the past; he also had a good relationship with the gods.

Seeing Xiaoqiege like this, Finnie couldn't help but think of the past.

Back when she was a priestess, she often saw Lingyi visiting the temple of Anunnaki every few days, and many gods within Phine's knowledge had a fairly good opinion of her.

"A prehistoric civilization? That's amazing. Speaking of which, does Finny know a lot about Zero's time in the prehistoric civilization?"

Hearing Finney's sentiments, Xiaoqiege asked him with great curiosity.

[Not many, really. She spends most of her time working and interacting with Shem-ha. Shem-ha is said to be the deity who did a lot of work in creating her body, and also her guardian.]

Fini and Xiaoqiege said that she didn't know much about it either.

"That's amazing! Did Zero-chan work for a god before? What did she do for a living?"

Although she already knew about it, Xiaoqiege couldn't help but sigh and, at the same time, curiously asked Fini for more information.

[I only know the general outline. In short, all life on Earth, including humans, was created by the Anunnaki, and the one who oversees and modifies these beings is the Shem-ha.]

[Zero's job is to assist in managing and protecting the important creatures created by the Anunnaki on Earth, preventing them from suffering extinction.]

When Xiaoqiege asked her, Fini didn't think much of it and told her some information that Lingyi had revealed during their casual conversation.

"It sounds impressive and cool, like a hero protecting everyone."

Upon hearing about the work Lingyi was in charge of, Xiaoqiege nodded, expressing her deep admiration.

[To be honest, she originally lived as an experimental subject under Shem-ha. The reason she took on this job was because, during her daily life, she discovered the rampage of the Guardian System, which had similar responsibilities, and reported it to the Anunnaki.]

[Later, wanting to prevent further losses to the creatures created by Shem-ha, she volunteered to take on some of the work to prevent the Guardians created by the Anunnaki from going berserk again. Possessing limitless potential for growth, she successfully learned all the necessary knowledge.]

That's about it. I don't know anything more. She and I didn't have a chance to talk much before she mysteriously disappeared.

Finnie recounted the story of Lingyi to Xiaoqiege with some nostalgia, and Xiaoqiege listened with great interest.

"Hey, Finney, is your display CD ready? If it is, come help me. I've already set up the equipment you needed."

Just as the two were chatting happily, Carol came over and urged Finney to come and work.

"You timed it perfectly, Carol. I'm coming right away. Let's go, Elfnein."

【I'm going to sleep now, after all, Finney, the work you guys do is really incomprehensible to me.】

Seeing this, Finney also exchanged control of her body with Xiaoqiege, emerged from the other's body, and led Elfnein to follow Carol toward the area that served as a temporary laboratory.

Within the sea of ​​consciousness enveloped by countless rays of light, Lingyi is steadily handling all kinds of affairs for all mankind. With the amplification of the equipment, she is able to project her will onto every inhabited corner of the world at the same time.

"Hmm... humanity has almost completely recovered all the heretical technologies and relics it possesses. As a result, the only thing we need to worry about is the unknown technologies that may exist in the ruins of prehistoric civilizations."

After confirming everything, Lingyi breathed a sigh of relief.

One of her tasks over the past few days has been to reclaim the heretical technologies that are the biggest destabilizing factor, so that humanity will not use these legacies of prehistoric civilizations to rebel against her.

Now, she has finally recovered all the prehistoric civilization heritage within the scope of human knowledge, and can breathe a sigh of relief in this regard for the time being.

"Next, we need to deal with the weapons issue. Human weapons, if used improperly, can cause quite a bit of trouble..."

After only a short rest, Lingyi's attention shifted to other matters.

Dominating all of humanity has enabled her to do many things, but at the same time, the things she needs to do have not decreased. It is not that once she has completed her domination, she can rest easy with nothing else to do.

I'm relieved that you finally agree with what I've thought.

However, just as she was thinking this, Lingyi suddenly heard this strange echo coming from her sea of ​​consciousness.

"who! ! ! ? "

Even though it should have been an absolutely safe place, Lingyi couldn't understand why there would be foreign objects there. A strong sense of unease caused her originally calm state of mind to become overwhelmed.

[Do not fear. If you choose this path, I will not interfere. The unification of wills is my desire, and I have never cared why I dictate things.]

The echoes spoke these words, while Lingyi tried her best to find their source, but she could not find any trace of anything foreign in her sea of ​​consciousness.

"Hey, what is this? What exactly is your purpose?!"

Lingyi tried to extract some information from the other person's words, but for some reason, no matter how she questioned them, she could not get a response from that voice.

"No response? Calm down, let's try to find her... We can't find her. Why? Is it some kind of unknown, heretical technology? What exactly is it?"

"Phew, there's no other way... I have to give up for now. There are still many things to finish, and although I can't understand what she's saying, it seems she doesn't intend to go against me."

After failing to find the anomaly using all available observation methods, Lingyi had no choice but to temporarily suppress this rather terrible situation and prepare to deal with this unknown danger when she had time.

"Now, oh, right, let's try to heal Serena and Ame no Kanade from Section 2. We can't keep them frozen like this forever."

After suppressing her unease, Lingyi thought about the tasks on her to-do list, and then remembered that there was a small matter that she needed to handle.

After achieving domination over humanity, the first organizations to be disbanded by Zero were the heretical technology research organizations in various countries, including SONG, which was directly under the United Nations.

As a result, the two individuals under SQ.NG's responsibility, who were in a frozen state, Amamiya and Serena, were suddenly left in a state of neglect where no one could take responsibility.

Although Lingyi could continue to arrange for them to be frozen, it would be troublesome to manage them if they were frozen like this indefinitely. She had more things to do and didn't have time to continue to protect them.

Moreover, having already achieved her goal, Lingyi now has a lot of surplus resources that she had originally set aside for future use. In addition, with the medical knowledge she has drawn from all of humanity through her dominance, the thawing treatment will not take her much effort.

Soon, without much effort, as the operating room lights turned from red to green, with the help of advanced medical equipment and some unorthodox techniques, Lingyi quickly brought the two girls, who had been lying flat on the floor for a long time, out of danger.

"Where...am I?"

The red-haired, red-eyed girl, Kanade Amagami, opened her eyes on the hospital bed, feeling the weakness all over her body and the chaotic memories in her mind, feeling somewhat at a loss.

"Are you awake? It seems the surgery went quite well."

Standing around the hospital bed was a girl with platinum blonde hair, Zero, who was looking at the body data of Amayu Kanade on the monitor.

"You are the one who defeated me... Huh!?"

Upon noticing Lingyi's face, Amami Kanade quickly realized who she was and instinctively wanted to be on guard, but her physical weakness prevented her from doing so.

"Don't move around. Just because you're out of immediate danger doesn't mean there's no danger left. I won't be responsible if you die from moving around."

After warning the girl, Lingyi turned her gaze to the other side, to a girl with orange hair and green eyes who didn't seem very big at first glance.

"Selena, how are you feeling?"

Lingyi asked him a question.

"I feel okay, my hands have regained their strength."

Because the emergency treatment received by the girl named Serena was better than that received by Kanade Amane, her injuries were actually less severe.

"That's what the instruments show too, so it seems your body is indeed recovering well."

Looking at the screen displaying Serena's physical condition, Zero nodded, confirming Serena's statement.

"Hey, what's going on here? Why are you here healing me after you took the Bronze Serpent Armor? What happened?"

Realizing that she couldn't move her body, the calmed-down Kanade Amane turned to Zero for information.

"Let's not even talk about the Bronze Serpent Armor, which is a long time ago. Explaining your next question is a huge undertaking. You can ask Yi and the others yourself later."

Lingyi didn't intend to waste any more words on this matter and planned to leave the explanation to someone else.

Chapter Seventeen: The Imminent Disbandment of SQ.NG

"Wings? ?"

呲——

Before Amayu Kanade could react to Rei's words, she heard a noise coming from the doorway.

Turning her head, she saw a familiar girl who seemed to have matured, Kazanari Tsubasa, and another slightly older woman with pink hair.

"what is going on?"

Seeing this incomprehensible situation, Tenyu Kanade subconsciously looked around, but all she could see were small drones that had exploded and were gradually disappearing into the portal.

"Satsuki, are you alright? Rei said she asked me to come here to pick you up..."

"Selena, how are you feeling? Is there anything wrong with your body?"

Soon, Kazami Tsubasa and Maria went to the side of their important person, who was wearing a hospital gown, and asked about their health.

They were preparing for a meeting about what to do next when they received a message from Zero: "Zou and Serena, I'm almost healed. Come pick me up here."

So, completely forgetting the meeting, he rushed to the location marked by Lingyi, since he valued his best friend and his sister equally.

"Ah, I'm fine now, Yi. More importantly, can someone explain to me what happened?"

“I feel great physically, and, Sister Maria, I have the same question in my mind.”

Seeing the two of them so eager, Amane and Serena responded in their own unique ways, and then they both began to ask the questions that they most urgently needed to know.

What exactly happened? How much time has passed since she was defeated by Zero, who stole the Bronze Serpent Armor (after she used her ultimate song to suppress the rampaging Neferi)?

What exactly happened, and why was it that the one who treated him was his enemy (the manager of the research institute)?

"Let me explain this aspect. It's been a long time, Zou."

A burly, red-haired man, Kazanari Genjuro, pushed open the door and led several former SONG members, including Ogawa Erei and Suzuni Shinji, into the ward.

"Oh, Genjuro-sama... Ouch, that hurts."

Upon seeing a familiar face, Tenyu Kanade greeted them with a smile, then cried out in pain as she aggravated her still-healing wound.

"Sister Maria, who are these people?"

Serena, who wasn't very familiar with the people in front of her, asked her sister gently, with a little concern.

"Don't be afraid, Serena, they are my... colleagues, you can trust them."

Maria sat down beside Serena's bedside, nodding to indicate that Serena could put her mind at ease and trust them.

"I understand."

With Maria saying this, Serena no longer had any doubts.

"Then, I will begin my explanation."

Seeing that the two, who had been ill for a long time, were prepared, Kazanari Genjuro began to explain to them.

After some persuasion, the story quickly unfolded, from the loss of the Bronze Serpent Armor to the construction of Kadingil by Fini to the shooting of the moon, from the battle in the FIS Frontier Incident to the complete defeat of SONG by Zero.

While it can't be said that every little detail was covered, it did manage to get these two people, who had been dormant for a long time, back on track.

"...Am I still dreaming?"

After listening to Kazanari Genjuro's account, Amayu Kanade couldn't help but pinch her own face. Her impression of heretical techniques and combat was still at the level of fighting against noise, and she said with some doubt about life.

Tenyu Kanade couldn't understand why, after she had just taken a nap, the enemy had escalated from noise to hostile warriors, priestesses of a prehistoric civilization, and finally to an entity that could dominate all of humanity—concepts she had never even heard of before.

Kanade Amagami couldn't help but wonder if she had really woken up. Was this really not some other world similar to her previous one? Why was the battlefield completely different from what she knew before?

"Sou, this is indeed reality, although, well, there seem to be quite a few developments that defy common sense."

After recounting Amagami Kanade's experiences over the years, Kazanari Genjuro also felt that their experiences during this period had been quite remarkable.

"Zero actually did something like that, and Maria has gone through so much... I never expected this... Haha, my head is spinning."

Serena was equally astonished by this turn of events.

Despite her best efforts to remain calm, she ultimately failed; her eyes became round and she felt somewhat dizzy.

"So, Genjuro-sama, you were summoned by the one who defeated me, Rei, to receive us after she healed us, is that right?"